LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Oct. 30, 2017

The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters are limited to 350 words and must be signed and carry the author’s address and phone number (for verification purposes only).

We edit letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We will not publish poetry, consumer complaints against businesses or personal attacks against private individuals. Thank-you letters are discouraged.

My Voice columns should be 500 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships.

We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject those published elsewhere.

The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters are limited to 350 words and must be signed and carry the author’s address and phone number (for verification purposes only).

We edit letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We will not publish poetry, consumer complaints against businesses or personal attacks against private individuals. Thank-you letters are discouraged.

My Voice columns should be 500 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships.

We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject those published elsewhere.

I recently attended a meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to bring before them my concerns about wildfire and its potential effect on local communities. The extensive destruction in seven Northern California counties changed my thinking about fire behavior here: that urban areas in NE Oregon were generally safe from wildfire intrusion and that if there were damage it would be minimal. Over the past five fire seasons as a lookout, I’ve observed great variation in the weather: wind speed and direction, extended drought followed by early fall to late spring rain and snow, and changes in storm tracks along with extreme fire behavior. I suggested to the commissioners some other ways to communicate to all county residents in case of fire emergency along with the cellphone-generated county-wide response network.

I hadn’t been before the commission in several years, and I stayed for the duration of the meeting. The collegiality among the commissioners was impressive, and their attentiveness to and interest in the issues brought to them gave me confidence in their fair and balanced approach and politically uncolored opinions. This is, I expect, the result of a non-partisan elected body.

I believe with the upcoming openings on the commission and the candidacy of past commissioner/author of “The Rage of Aquarius”/alpaca rancher/barista-in-chief/Walden staffer and ideologue Colleen MacLeod, the body will again become a politically charged entity as it was during her earlier reign. Her mission is to bring the partisanship in Washington, D.C., to the Union County Board of Commissioners. We are fortunate that the requirements for candidacy here are minimal: just apply and round up your constituents and go for it.

I guess this is a good season for MacLeod, like a vampire risen from the political grave, to be running. We the voters have a vested interest in the 2018 election. The effectiveness and fairness of the commission is, well, at stake.

Michael R. Rosenbaum

La Grande

Meyer: Poltergeists are taking control of my life

To the Editor:

They never bothered me in my younger days, always knew they were around, never saw them but, then again, invisibility is their nature. They came out of the woodwork about the time I hit my 60s. Aliens and poltergeists. They screw with me on a daily basis. If the poltergeists aren’t knocking things out of my hands, the aliens are playing with my mind and stealing my memory. They often work in tandem.

Just the other day (after I found where the poltergeist had hidden my keys and wallet) I made a trip to the store followed by a Redbox stop for a movie. When I reached for my credit card it was gone, along with half the cards in my wallet. Immediately the aliens started messing around in my brain. Their manipulated thoughts came rapid fire: “I’ve been robbed — no wait a minute — the store. I pulled out the cards with my money, scattering them all over the floor. My bank account is being drained this very minute.”

The young lady at the register had a blank look on her face (alien-controlled for sure) as I scoured the floor with my eyes. “No sir, nobody has turned in anything, I’m truly sorry.” Nothing left to do but return home and start deciphering what was missing and making the cancellation calls.

Arriving home the first thing I noticed were the missing cards from my wallet, in a neat pile, exactly where the poltergeists put them. I pictured those little prankster ghouls slapping high-fives with the aliens.

I am guessing that some still have doubts about these creatures’ existence? If you are one of those naysayers please explain how my firmly grasped, peanut butter and jelly sandwich can fly straight up out of my hands (alien gravity gizmos) do a slow-motion twirl, split apart (poltergeists at their finest) and land, both halves, jelly side down on the carpet?

If you believe or not, I have discovered two things that are certain — you cannot turn the TV channel with the phone nor phone someone with the remote.